Summary

Urban Wildscapesis one of the first edited collections of writings about urban 'wilderness' landscapes. Evolved, rather than designed or planned, these derelict, abandoned and marginal spaces are frequently overgrown with vegetation and host to a wide range of human activities. They include former industrial sites, landfill, allotments, cemeteries, woods, infrastructural corridors, vacant lots and a whole array of urban wastelands at a variety of different scales. Frequently maligned in the media, these landscapes have recently been re-evaluated and this collection assembles these fresh perspectives in one volume.

Combining theory with illustrated examples and case studies, the book demonstrates that urban wildscapes have far greater significance, meaning and utility than is commonly thought, and that an appreciation of their particular qualities can inform a far more sustainable approach to the planning, design and management of the wider urban landscape.

The wildscapes under investigation in this book are found in diverse locations throughout the UK, Europe, China and the US. They vary in scale from small sites to entire cities or regions, and from discrete locations to the imaginary wildscapes of children's literature. Many different themes are addressed including the natural history of wildscapes, their significance as a location for all kinds of playful activity, the wildscape as 'commons' and the implications for landscape architectural practice, ranging from planting interventions in wildscapes to the design of the urban public realm on wildscape principles.

Choice Review

In this collection of 16 essays, based on a 2007 symposium hosted by Sheffield University (UK), artists, art historians, human geographers, and landscape architects present new perspectives on "urban wildscapes"--deserted, liminal areas or abandoned developments reclaimed by disenfranchised groups and nature. The book focuses on urban wildscapes of varying sizes in Sheffield, Detroit, Germany's Ruhr Valley, and Berlin--landscapes reconfigured by political shifts and mass closures of industrial enterprises. Contributors provocatively have reconceived design methods to produce new types of public landscapes--low-maintenance, multipurpose spaces that require little surveillance and impose few restrictions on all. Several authors underscore that opening wildscapes to young people can positively introduce them to risk and autonomous critical thinking. The book's mostly photographic illustrations reflect the contributors' purposeful avoidance of conventional design methods, including the drawing of site maps. They stress slow processes of popular input to arrive at solutions, resisting large-scale obliteration of wildscapes. These ideas often are at odds with governmental regulations and developers' short-term profit motives. Each essay is followed by a brief bibliography; few have footnotes. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. A. R. Michelson University of Washington Libraries